What are you doing today?

[Fishmanic]

The dance floor was full all night long. Ages of the crowd ranged from 20s to 80s.

 

[GaryE]

One of my all time favourite shows was the late Toots Hibbert - Toots and the Maytals. They did a formula, greatest hits show and the spectacle on stage was pretty standard, but the crowd? My friends (aquarists all) and I were in our fifties, longtime ska and reggae fans. The group behind us on the open dance floor were a grandfather and his grand children, all dancing and singing along. He was a first wave, 1960s ska fan, and he seemed so proud of the young adult grandchildren loving his culture so visibly.

It seemed like everyone there, whether in their teens, whether there to raise Cain, or needing canes knew all the songs, and the dance floor was all energy and respect. Those shows are rare. When you find one, hit the floor. They feel good.

Maybe I'll play some Maytals when I'm out in the fish palace today. Developments in the world around me permitting, some garden weeds are going to have a very bad afternoon today.

 

[gwand]

I sold 12 orange flash A. cacatuoides to a lfs yesterday and gave away 6 female cockatoo this morning. I still have about 12 cockatoo remaining from a late February spawn. I need to find interested parties. The spawning pair have been separated. I cannot deal with another spawning.

 

[Fishmanic]

One of my all time favourite shows was the late Toots Hibbert - Toots and the Maytals. They did a formula, greatest hits show and the spectacle on stage was pretty standard, but the crowd? My friends (aquarists all) and I were in our fifties, longtime ska and reggae fans. The group behind us on the open dance floor were a grandfather and his grand children, all dancing and singing along. He was a first wave, 1960s ska fan, and he seemed so proud of the young adult grandchildren loving his culture so visibly.

It seemed like everyone there, whether in their teens, whether there to raise Cain, or needing canes knew all the songs, and the dance floor was all energy and respect. Those shows are rare. When you find one, hit the floor. They feel good.

Maybe I'll play some Maytals when I'm out in the fish palace today. Developments in the world around me permitting, some garden weeds are going to have a very bad afternoon today.

I am a big Toots and the Maytals fan. I had a chance to attend one of his local shows. I went to view available tickets online and there were very few seats left but there was a single front row center seat Something else came up and I decided not to go. Now I regret not going. Toots Hibbert passed away a few years ago from complications from Covid. May he rest in peace.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

My teenage daughter asked me to get up early with her and go up the mountain so we could spend some time watching beavers before she went to work. This Dad gig is pretty cool sometimes.

 

[MattW]

Rant incoming. I’m hating these “hydration breaks” at the WC. Well in reality, AD breaks is what they are. A mask for the NA channels to push ads. They break up momentum and leave fans waiting for the game to continue. The thing I find funny is a couple of stadiums used in this WC have roofs and AC which create perfect playing conditions and no need for a “hydration break”. ‘Anything for money’ should be the new FIFA motto

 

[anewbie]

I'm trying to decide on a or b. On the one hand a is better than b but b is nicer than a. Shall it be a or b ?

 

[GaryE]

I agree on the hydration breaks. Okay, if they play in blistering heat, it matters. But this is just imitating the American NFL, where the game starts and stops endlessly and is ideal for ads. International football flows, and the hydration break is economics, not sport. The beautiful game gets no respect from FIFA.

They call ad breaks in hockey now too. It's an ugly thing.

Football is a great game because all you need is shoes and a ball. I know it's become an expensive industry with academies and such, but the fundamentals are of a simple game. I've watched kids playing for fun and showing great skills on fields of dust in inner city Africa. But with the World Cup in my country now, I could never attend a game because I'm not wealthy. Somewhere, something is going wrong.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Rant incoming. I’m hating these “hydration breaks” at the WC. Well in reality, AD breaks is what they are. A mask for the NA channels to push ads. They break up momentum and leave fans waiting for the game to continue. The thing I find funny is a couple of stadiums used in this WC have roofs and AC which create perfect playing conditions and no need for a “hydration break”. ‘Anything for money’ should be the new FIFA motto

In American football, they call that "an official's time-out." I think American football is designed to be watched on TV, complete with commercial breaks. Soccer is not. That's why it'll probably never really catch on over here.

@GaryE Based on what I've seen in Haiti, even shoes are entirely optional. ha ha

 

[GaryE]

I'm not from an "international football" culture the way @MattW would be. I rarely played and never watched it growing up. But I love that flow, and find it engrossing as a process. I can't watch the NFL - it bores me with its broken rhythms and dead time. It is ideal for advertising though, and probably for placing bets during the stops. I usually start a game if I have nothing to do, but wander off during a break and never go back. It's not for nothing fans discuss the ads during the super bowl. They're built in.
Ice hockey, my local religion, has a similar flow to 'footie' but on its smaller surface. But as it has picked up limited popularity (but many franchises) in the US, that need to stop the game for ads has kicked in, and is becoming very annoying. I've never watched an NBA game to know if they do the same to the flow. But at least in hockey, they have the courage to call it an ad break.
I confess, I watch baseball, which is very slow and has breaks between innings for the marketers to have fun with. What sports matter is cultural, but I do see a culture change in cities up here. Soccer is huge with the under 30 crowd, and people who never watch the NFL, CFL or NBA have their Bundesliga or Premier League favourites. Local teams are developing a following. It hasn't happened in small backwater cities like where I am now, and there's a rural/urban divide happening there.
I think the international game is going to grow here, with a decent Canadian team developing, and the current conflict with the US making a lot of young people look beyond North America. It'll take time, but baseball fields are sadly being converted to soccer pitches at an alarming rate, and I had far more soccer playing students than any other sport. In my old High School, they couldn't ever get a 'football' team together (we had a teacher who had been in the Miami Dolphins system and had played minor league pro. He tried!), but the competition to get on to the soccer teams was fierce.

It's all misguided. The energy should go into fishkeeping.

 

[Essjay]

I had my retinopathy screening this afternoon; my results over the last few years have been such that I now need screening every two years instead of every year. While waiting for my husband to pick me up I stood in the shade of the building in a strong breeze. By the time he arrived I was almost shivering on the day the June temperature record was broken down south.

 

[Fishmanic]

I fixed a toilet and an outside sillcock. Saved a few hundred bucks by not having to hire a plumber. I may celebrate by grilling a steak

 

[Back in the fold]

Man alive ! I have been busier than a one legged man in a three legged race the past two weeks . Lots of yard work and weed pulling and just generally spiffing things up but I have a handle on it now . Working yoga and running and bike riding into that has been time consuming too but it’s the glorious long days of summer and a guy has to strike while the iron is hot .

 

[gimme30]

I'm getting the scooter ready for a trip to the Sturgis rally. I haven't been since '95 so it will be interesting to see how it's changed. Need to pull the wheels and take them to the dealer for some new rubber and put on a new chain and sprockets while I'm at it. Quality time with my baby.

 

[GaryE]

The garden is weeded. The vacuuming's done. The yard's cleaned up, and the water changes are caught up. I think I'll do some reading today. The stack of killifish journals I inherited from my friend has to be a foot and a half high, and every article is something a skilled hobbyist crafted to communicate something he or she thought people like us would like to know. They go back to the 1990s - not that long ago from my point of view, but still reflecting a different era in the hobby.

I (minimally) helped some contractors with clearing brush from the abandoned yard next door, prior to it being sold. There was an apple tree back in it - an old twisty one with a neatly stacked pile of branches under it. I grabbed a few before they went into the fire barrel. Apple should be a good wood, and these ones have character. I'll sink them over the summer and be able to work them into tank decor before winter.

I got a load of fish over the past few weeks, and every tank is in use for either QT or permanent living. So what happens? We got a run of big rainstorms, including lightning last night. The corys I've wanted to spawn, Hoplisoma atropersonatus, concolor and melini all put eggs all over their tanks, and I had nowhere to raise them. But now I know they're old enough. They're all locally uncommon and a bunch of each would make some of the local aquarists happy. Now I'll set up properly, and they'll stop spawning.